Introduction

This lecture is devoted to a slightly different issue, the issue of measurement of happiness. In the Western context, where happiness is one of the most researched topics, scales have been developed to measure to what extent a person is happy. Such measures are particularly needed if one wants to know to what extent happiness is dependent on demographic and socio-economic factors such as age, sex, marital status and economic characteristics. Do you think that men and women, Hindus and Muslims, and poor and rich, differ in happiness? Are the differences significant? Why? What is the effect of unemployment on happiness? To answer such questions we need to measure happiness. As early as 2006, Böckerman and Ilmakunnas developed a scale of happiness to provide answers to such questions. If you are more interested in practical aspects of value education this lecture may not be of any interest to you. However, if you wish to engage with the world community on the subject of happiness you cannot afford to ignore the developments made in conceptualization and measurement of happiness. Such measurements, and findings based on them, are especially useful for planners and social activists.